September
Esther Bauer, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, published “Gender Trouble in Anton Räderscheidts Werken des Magischen Realismus” (Gender Trouble in Anton Räderscheidt’s Works of Magical Realism), Non-binäre Identitäten und Konzepte in Literatur, Musik und Kunst um 1900, ed. Anna-Katharina Gisbertz et al., Transgressions 1 (Freiburg, Germany: Rombach, 2025), pp. 131–63.
Ralph Buehler, Public and International Affairs, published “Public Transport and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparative Analysis of Trends and Policies in Great Britain, Germany, the USA, Canada, and Australia,” Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 199 (September 2025), Article 104549, with John Pucher et al.
Chase Catalano, Education, coedited Envisioning a Critical and Liberatory Approach to Trans and Queer Center(ed) Diversity Work (New York, New York: Peter Lang, 2025) with Antonio Duran et al. His individual contributions to the volume were: “Introduction: Conceptualizing a Critical, Liberatory Approach to TQ Center(ed) Diversity Work” with Duran et al., “From ‘Safe’ to Liberatory: A New Approach to Educating Campus Communities With TQ Center(ed) Diversity Workers” with Kalyani Kannan, and “Dreaming of Liberation & Solidarity: Notes for How We Keep Going” with T.J. Jourian, pp. 1–12, 125–41, and 225–35, respectively. In addition, Catalano published “A Liberatory Approach to Allyship: LGBTQ+ Ally Training at a Catholic University,” Journal of Catholic Education 28.1 (2025): 26–47, with Hugh Smeltekop, and “Responding to Queer Subordination: LGBTQ+ Social Justice Educational Interventions on Campus,” Journal of College Student Development 66.4 (2025): 369–84, with Z Nicolazzo.
Nick Copeland, History, received a Rapid Response Bridge grant from the Spencer Foundation for his research project titled “Participatory Water Science and Indigenous Resistance to Extractivism in Guatemala.” The Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program was created to support scholars and teams working in the field of STEM education whose grants were recently cancelled by the National Science Foundation.
François Debrix, Political Science and ASPECT Core Faculty, and coauthor Alexander Barder published Biyopolitikanin Ötesi: Dünya Siyasetinde Teori, Siddet ve Dehset (Ankara, Turkey: FOL Books, 2025), a Turkish translation and re-edition of their book Beyond Biopolitics: Theory, Violence, and Horror (New York, New York, and Abingdon, United Kingdom: Routledge, 2012), with translator Serap Gunes.
Amanda Demmer, History, was awarded a $10,000 Scholar Research Grant from the Hoover Institution Library & Archives; the grant provides support for research based on the Hoover Institution’s collections. In addition, Demmer presented the keynote address, “After Saigon’s Fall: A 50-Year Retrospective,” at the 1975: The End of the Vietnam War Conference, which was held April 12 at the Vietnam Center and Archive at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.
School of Education doctoral student Valerie Dunham, Curriculum and Instruction, and faculty member Dana Robertson, Professor of Reading and Literacy and Director of the School of Education, presented “Discourse Within the Interactional Space of Literacy Coaching” at the Scientific Studies of Reading 32nd Annual Conference, which took place July 16–19 in Calgary, Canada.
School of Education doctoral students and faculty gave the following paper presentations at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Educational Psychology doctoral student Zeynep Ambarkutuk and faculty member Brett Jones presented “Comparing Motivational Climate Perceptions, Motivation, and Effort Across Online and In-Person Mathematics Courses” and “The Impact of Course Perceptions on Motivational Beliefs in a Computer Science Course Over Time.” Ambarkutuk, Educational Psychology student Hande Fenerci, and Jones presented “Relationships Between Engineering Course Climate and Domain-specific Beliefs: Differences Between Men and Women” with Margaret Ellis and Inyoung Kim.
Ambarkutuk, Fenerci, Jones, and faculty member Jesse “Jay” Wilkins presented “Dynamics of the Motivational Climate in a College Course Over a Semester.” The meeting took place April 23–27 in Denver, Colorado.
Sociology doctoral student Elvis Effah published “Political Influence and the Crisis of Security in West Africa: The Role of Vigilantism in Ghana,” International Review of Sociology, with Ronald Osei Mensah et al.
ASPECT doctoral student Efemena Esamagu published “Rethinking Nigeria's Security Threats: Armed Banditry and Its Impacts on the People of North-west Nigeria, 2010–2025,” Àgídìgbo: ABUAD Journal of the Humanities 13.1 (2025), 364–79, with Taiwo Adebayo Adeyinka.
Tom Ewing, Professor of History and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research and undergraduate History major Grace Kostrzebski published “The Bicycle in Relation to the Physician, 1892,” Circulating Now, National Library of Medicine, posted June 26.
Charlie Farrington, English, published “The Detroit Dialect Study: Accessing a Foundational Study on the Social Stratification of American English. Audio Feature,” American Speech 100.3 (2025): 401–03, with Danica Cullinan et al.
Lillian Frost, Political Science, was selected as the recipient of this year’s Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society Article/Book Chapter Award for “Ambiguous Citizenship Policies: Examining Implementation Gaps Across Levels of Legislation in Jordan,” Comparative Migration Studies 12 (2024), Article 23. Frost will receive the award at the society’s annual meeting, which will take place October 10–12 in Valle Crucis, North Carolina.
Center for Gerontology and Department of Human Development and Family Science faculty members Karen Roberto, also University Distinguished Professor and Director of the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment, and Tina Savla published “Niece and Nephew Dementia Caregivers: Family Relationships and Care Dynamics,” The Gerontologist 65.8 (2025), gnaf154. Additional information about the study can be found here.
Philosophy, Politics, and Economics major Emon Green published “Black Hope-in-Practice,” Shuddhashar Magazine 44, special issue “Youth” (August 2025).
Aarnes Gudmestad, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, coedited Research at the Intersection of Second Language Acquisition and Sociolinguistics: Studies in Honor of Kimberly L. Geeslin, Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 43 (Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins, 2025), with Megan Solon and Matthew Kanwit. Her individual contributions to the volume were: “Introduction: The Acquisition of Variation and the Legacy of Kimberly L. Geeslin” with Solon and Kanwit, and “An Exploration of L1 Attitudes and Individual Characteristics in the Study of Sociolinguistic Perception in Additional-language Spanish” with Government and International Affairs alumnus Ian Michalski, pp. 1–7 and 289–316, respectively.
Marcus Johnson, Education, edited a collection of essays that comprise the digital humanities project Teaching Historical Racial Trauma (Blacksburg, Virginia: Virginia Tech Publishing, 2025). Included in the collection was an essay by Rachelle Kuehl, Education, titled “Unpacking Racial Trauma in Children’s Fiction: Mourning as Legacy in The Parker Inheritance.”
Brett Jones, Education, published “The Effects of an Instructional Intervention on the Motivational Climate in a Course: A Case Study,” Sage Open 15.2 (April-June 2025), with Educational Psychology alumna Ming Li, and “Training Teaching Assistants to Create a Positive Motivational Climate,” American Association for the Advancement of Science/Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative blog, posted July 30, with Margaret Ellis and Inyoung Kim.
The David H. Kellogg Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics received a gift commitment of $16 million from Electrical Engineering alumnus David H. Kellogg to name and endow the center he helped launch with initial support. With this gift, Virginia Tech becomes one of the world’s first public research universities to endow a research center in this field, which synthesizes three disciplines. In 2017 a minor in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) was introduced and in 2017 a major followed. Today there are more than 225 students enrolled in PPE at Virginia Tech. A hub for cutting-edge interdisciplinary research and research-centered teaching in the humanities and social sciences, the center is home to five core faculty members and more than 50 affiliated faculty. The founding director of the Center is Michael Moehler, Political Science and current Director.
Melanie Kiechle, History, published “Ecologies, Diseases, Security – Embracing Changes?” in Ecologies of Disease Control: Spaces of Health Security in Historical Perspective, ed. Carolin Mezes et al. (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2025): 207–15; and “Miasma Theory: A Primer” as well as “Dying Before Germ Theory” on the Nursing Clio blog on June 30 and July 21, respectively.
Julie Mengert, English, published From Surviving to Metaviving: A New Rhetorical Formation in Metastatic Breast Cancer Patient Discourse, Bloomsbury Studies in Health Communication (New York, New York: Bloomsbury USA Academic, 2025).
Shalini Misra, Public and International Affairs, was named Virginia Tech’s 2025 Outstanding Faculty Member Award winner by the Virginia Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA). She received the award at the APA Virginia Annual Conference, which took place July 20–23 in Portsmouth, Virginia.
Carol Mullen, Education, published “Wellbeing and the SACE Model of Mentoring,” The Chronicle of Mentoring and Coaching 9.2 (2025): 10–19.
Robert Perdue, Sociology, and coauthor Pierce Greenberg were awarded the Environmental Sociology Outstanding Publication Award for their article titled “Prisons and Pollution: A Nationwide Analysis of Carceral Environmental Inequality,” Social Problems 72.2 (May 2025): 783–801. The award was presented at the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, which took place August 8–12 in Chicago.
Khadijah Queen, English, published Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: A Veteran’s Memoir (New York, New York: Legacy Lit/Hachette Book Group, 2025).
Patrick Ridge, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, published the Foreword to World Cup! History, Politics, and Art of the Beautiful Game by Daniel Noemi Voionmaa (New York, New York: Vernon Press, 2025), pp. vii–xvii.
Dana Robertson, Professor of Reading and Literacy, was appointed Director of the School of Education. A member of the Virginia Tech community since 2021, he previously served as Executive Director of the Literacy Research Center and Clinic at the University of Wyoming, where he also held a distinguished professorship in the School of Teacher Education. Robertson’s areas of expertise include classroom discourse and oral language, comprehension instruction, reading and writing challenges, literacy coaching, and teacher professional learning. He is the coauthor of two books and this academic year is president of the International Literacy Association, which aims to connect research and practice to improve the quality of literacy instruction worldwide. Robertson earned a bachelor's degree from Berklee College of Music, a master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts, and a doctorate from Boston University. In addition, Robertson published “Discourse, Positioning, and Agency: A Relational Perspective on Literacy Coaching in the Upper Elementary and Middle Grades,” Handbook on the Science of Literacy in Grades 3-8, ed. Susan B. Neuman and Melanie R. Kuhn (New York, New York: Guilford Press, 2025), pp. 367–82, with Jeanne R. Paratore.
Suchitra Samanta, Collegiate Associate Professor Emerita of Sociology, published the short fiction anthology Grace: Stories of Kolkata and Its People (Orlando, Florida: Parker Publishers, 2025).
Philosophy, Politics, and Economics major Phoebe Scarborough published “The Future I Asked For,” Shuddhashar Magazine 44, special issue “Youth” (August 2025).
Ashley Shew, Science, Technology, and Society, published “A Call for Integrated Approaches in Digital Technology Design for Aging and Disability,” The Gerontologist 65.6 (June 2025), gnaf113, with Hanna J. Barton et al.; and “Walking and Talking, Rocking and Rolling: Moral Visibility in Contexts of Technology Development,” Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal special issue “Situating Neurodiversity and Madness,” 34.2/3 (June/September 2024): 155–90, with Janna van Grunsven. In addition, her syllabus for Technology and Disability, along with the syllabi of Science and Technology alumni Joshua Earle and Damien Williams, was featured on the American Philosophical Association Syllabus Showcase on June 18. Shew was also elected President-Elect of the Society for Philosophy and Technology; she will serve in this role for two years before serving as President beginning in June 2027 and as Past President beginning in June 2029.
Rachel Stauffer, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, coedited Diversity and Decolonization in Teaching Russian Studies (Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature/Palgrave Macmillan, 2025), with Thomas Jesús Garza. Her individual contribution(s) to the volume were: “Introduction,” with Garza, and “Colonial and Decolonial Impulses: Histories and Stories from Russian Studies Educators in the United States,” with Jambul Akkaziev and Martha Kelly, pp. 1–14 and 43–86, respectively.
Susan Stinson, Communication, published “Finding Life in the Game,” American Book Review 46.1 (2025): 17–22.
The College notes with sadness the death of Karen Swenson, Associate Professor Emerita of English, on August 1. Her scholarship, which focused on Old Norse, medieval, and Renaissance literature and mythology, resulted in two books as well as numerous essays and presentations. Swenson taught a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate literature courses and was an early adopter and innovator of online teaching. In 2009 she was awarded a Master Online Instructor certificate by Virginia Tech’s Center for Distance and Distributed Education. A member of the Virginia Tech community since 1988, Swenson was awarded emerita status in 2022. The funeral home obituary provides additional information.
Daniel Thorp, History, published Seeking Justice: The Extraordinary Freedom Suits of an Enslaved Virginia Family, The American South Series (Charlottesville, Virginia: University of Virginia Press, 2025).
Peter Wallenstein, History, presented the keynote address titled “Vignettes from the History of Virginia State University” at the annual conference of the Virginia Social Science Association, which took place April 12 at Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia.